There’s been a lot spoken about finding your why over the years. Simon Sinek explained it well in his TED talk How Great Leaders Inspire Action. If you aren’t familiar with it, the takeaway line is “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.” Arguably, this is where all the why talk really took off.
When it comes to writing a book, the why is two-fold. There’s your personal why and your business why.
A personal why is often something like leaving a legacy or perhaps ticking off a bucket list item. It’s what truly matters to you deep inside. It may be something you never tell anyone but could well be the thing that will motivate you to keep going on the days when it all seems in vain.
Your business or book project why tends to revolve around business outcomes. How will your book fill a void in your business plan? Perhaps it helps establish credibility, helps you get hired for speaking gigs or will open up a whole new area of business you’ve been trying to break into. A solid business why is vital to give your book depth and value.
We often focus on just the business why because it covers the book’s content. Absolutely. But we are people first and businesses second, and it’s the person who is writing. It’s you as a person who has to turn up, sit down at the computer and write every day. A book is a big project and requires tenacity, dedication and passion. You need to believe in yourself as well as what you are writing.
Either one without the other won’t get the book written and written well. Spend time working out your personal why and your business why so they can both fuel your writing fire.
